Oh, those Teahadist-Republicans are going to go nuts with this one…they will whine and complain and surely the word SOCIALISM is going to be interjected in every other sentence they utter; they will have collective cows over this one.
Alex-Mortimer-King-John---Magna-Carta--Restrike-Etching--36933
It is my opinion that these whiners that complain about Obama not being “business friendly” and bitching about the possibilities of regulations being legislated or re-instated;(this at a time corporations are raking in record profits) these very people whom the government bailed out and made out like bandits…which is what they were…shouldn’t be complaining. Hell, they should consider themselves lucky we haven’t prosecuted them and thrown their lily-white WASPH asses in the slammer. I think that most people hold MERITOCRACY with high esteem in our society; an individual who drives his company to the ground should not be rewarded for his incompetence…period.
Haven’t you wondered why nothing has been done about the catastrophic meltdown we had with banks and Wall Street? There are no new regulations or even re-instituting the old ones Republicans stripped away systematically for years. Nobody is even talking about the horrible situation that exists with the foreclosure of homes and other properties. It is a given that the financial institution that “holds” the mortgage can do just about anything and get away with it. How can this be possible in a nation of laws? How could it be that some of these laws that date back to property rights granted centuries ago…some even included in the MAGNA CARTA?
Wall Street and financial institutions are in need of very radical reform or we are going to be caught with our pants down once more and next time it is not going to be a deep recession but a full blown DEPRESSION caused by the same financial institution and the speculation in the parallel markets. The whole thing is going to come crashing down and once Humpty Dumpty falls the next time there is no fucking way our government or even a prophet sent from above will be able to fix it.
You may want to check out this article by Richard (RJ) Eskow that appeared in http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011010320/fix-foreclosure-fraud-borrowers-bill-rights this January 20th, 2011:
Fix Foreclosure Fraud With a Borrowers' Bill of Rights
“People are debating the need for a "systemic fix"to address the foreclosure crisis. What we really need is a systemic redesign, from the ground up. Fortunately, the design was laid down centuries ago - by 800 years of law, and by the idea that free people are entitled to limit the unwarranted power of others over their persons and property. These principles are a good foundation for structuring future negotiation, legislation, or regulation.
The President wooed corporate executives this week with a Wall Street Journal editorial called "Toward a 21st Century Regulatory System." What we really need is a 21st century banking system, built on ancient principles and not fly-by-night profiteering.
You could encode those principles in a document and call it the Borrower's Bill of Rights. You could even call it the Mortgage Magna Carta, since some of the basic principles involved date back that far.
People are taking action. The Commonwealth of Virginia is debating a law that would restore some basic homeowner rights and would severely restrict the use of MERS, a database and pseudo-company created by the mortgage industry to bypass property law and expedite the buying and selling of bundled mortgages at something approaching the speed of light. Homeowners and investors in mortgage-backed securities are teaming up against the banks (although they'll part way again soon, since their interests conflict in many ways). Attorneys General from all 50 states are conducting a joint investigation and are negotiating with the major banks. FDIC Chair Sheila Bair wants to create a "claims commission" for wrongly foreclosed homeowners, like the claims program for victims of the BP disaster in the Gulf.
These efforts are good, but they lack a unifying principle. Even the idea of a "systemic fix" or "systemic redesign" doesn't go far enough, because it doesn't establish the foundation for redesign. What's needed is a new charter, a new set of rights and principles for people who engage with the banking system (or have rescued it with their tax dollars). These "borrower's rights" would stabilize the banking system and protect both investors and stockholders. That means we're not talking about a socialist revolution, just the rule of law and sound business practices.
Let's not pretend that we live in a system where anyone who doesn't like the terms of a loan can turn it down. Banks operate in close collusion, so if you want to borrow you'll have to do it on their terms. It's an asymmetrical relationship. People can't turn these loans down individually, but they can set the rules of the road as a society, by working through their elected representatives.
What would those rules of the road, these borrower's rights, look like? Let's throw out a few to get the ball rolling:
1. Contracts must be honored.
2. State and local laws can't be overruled by private enterprise.
foreclose without proper documentation, without holding the deed to the property, and without giving the homeowner his or her day in court.
From the Magna Carta, 1215 C.E.: "No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land."
3. Real-world assets (like homes) can't become digital gambling chips. They must be backed by deeds and other documents that link them with reality.
4. If you break the law, you pay the price.
5. When you cut a plea-bargain deal, or get rescued by the taxpayer, you must admit your wrongdoing.
6. No more clauses allowing the banks to enter "abandoned" homes.
7. Auditors must be legally liable if they certify sketchy and/or fraudulent bank programs as financially sound
8. We need ratings agencies that aren't inept, corrupt, compromised, or beholden to the companies they're rating.
9. If we rescue you, we call the shots. That's gotta stop.
10. Nobody gets rich by f*cking up.
11. If you're collecting low (or zero) interest money at the Fed's "discount window," you better be lending it.
12. 'Claims Commissions' are good, but the list of acceptable claims should include fraudulent lending and inappropriate contract changes - and they shouldn't be limited to defaulting homeowners..
13. Banks shouldn't make money writing bad deals.
14. Underwater homeowners shouldn't be bailing out hugely profitable banks.
15. After you've wrecked everything, don't make me listen to your complaints about regulation.
In the name of sanity and decency, let's stop hearing complaints about regulation from people whose unregulated actions caused a worldwide economic meltdown. What's next - gripes about radiation safety from the people who operated Chernobyl?”
These aren't randomly selected ideas. Together they re-establish the rule of law, anchor the lending process back in physical reality, reduce the "moral hazard" that lets bankers avoid the consequences of their actions, and restore balance between banks, government, and their trading partners.
As we said, they're mostly meant as food for thought. Better ones would be appreciated. But isn't it time we made the most important "systemic fix" of all - the one that repairs the broken link between a bank and the society in which it operates?
This post was produced as part of the Curbing Wall Street project.
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The red carpet’s still being rolled out for them in Washington, but if there’s a stain on it they’ll pout for days. Jason Linkins documents the latest set of cheap white whines from very wealthy white men. (Discrimination lawsuits are a routine part of their legal troubles, too.) This time they’re upset because nobody from the six largest banks in America was invited to the president’s CEO Roundtable.
They’re offended because they didn’t meet with the president? From the looks of things they’re lucky not to be meeting with the warden. Their collective rap sheet includes fraud, sex discrimination, collusion to bribe public officials… even laundering drug money for Mexican drug cartels. One of them is accused of ripping off some nuns! None of this criminal behavior has stopped them from sulking over a presidential slight. Let’s review the record for these corporate malefactors, and then decide:
Which of these six banks was “America’s Most Shameless Corporate Outlaw” in 2010? (I mean, really: Nuns?)”
I highly recommend that you go into this site and read all the details of the items named above…it is an eye opener and a totally reasonable expectation for the general public.
SOURCE: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011010320/fix-foreclosure-fraud-borrowers-bill-rights
PHOTO SOURCE: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=photos+of+Richard+%28RJ%29+Eskow
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